


Momentary Phase

by Viderian



Category: Bleach
Genre: Action, Bounts - Freeform, Canon Divergence, Drama, Ichigo’s PoV, M/M, Romance, Shinigami, Swordplay, Violence, hollows - Freeform, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-08-23 05:32:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16612850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viderian/pseuds/Viderian
Summary: He could never imagine one fateful encounter with a bount could change his life forever.





	1. Sallow Skin

## Prologue

He had known where to look in order to find me. After all, Bounts were known for their incredible spiritual awareness. It was after years of searching for me and the attempt to kill me to sustain his own life that it ended up like this. 

I clung to his hand as we watched the lights flash over the empty streets of Karakura town. My fingers entwined with his, but there was no response. He just stared forward, shielding me with his body in hopes they wouldn’t find me; there was nothing he could do whether I was discovered or not, and all he could do was this. To sacrifice his freedom so not as to jeopardize my status as a substitute Shinigami, or even life—mine or his, I wasn’t sure—was completely insane. His hands were calloused and cut from so many years of struggling to survive. 

It wasn’t as if he could fight back against them. No souls were taken to empower him or extend his life any longer, there was no way he could resist. They’d kill him on the spot in front of me if he did, and he knew that. They wanted him, not me. They had no fucking clue I was involved, that I was the one behind the destruction he had caused, and he wanted to keep it that way. I wanted to protect my town, the people in it, my friends and family… 

Why, why did they want him! The Soul Society had no business with a Bount who never did harm, who never created victims of humans, who—!

But it was law, a law I had to follow since I wanted to be welcomed by them and not be stripped of my powers. It was an undeniable fact that Bounts were a threat to order and humanity, despite how different he was. I was the only victim of him, the harm being his allowing of this to happen.

More light spread over the road as the doors were opened, and he finally braced himself against me, no, pushed me backward. The Shinigami wanted him dead. They would hunt him down to the ends of the Earth until he was caught.

Sweat dripped down my neck but my blood ran ice cold. Another hot Summer day, and I was freezing. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, placing on a chaste kiss on my forehead then pulling back to give me a flatlined smile, devoid of anything but pure fear. Fear that I would be harmed, fear that they would discover me, fear that he would never see me again. He leaned in to whisper close to my ear, a sound I loved any other time, but now hated it more than anything. 

“All you do is cry, Ichigo.”

It was a dead-silent whisper, made only for me. I never cried in his presence—hell, I don’t even remember the last time I cried. He didn’t say it to piss me off or hurt what feelings I had left since the season began, no, he only wanted to console me.

“I took up too much of your time, and I gotta go. You’ll be fine without me.”

I couldn’t speak. It was like a goodbye, but worse. He wasn’t just saying goodbye as much as telling me it was the last time I’d see him and he wished me luck on my journey. My eyes burned and I wasn’t sure if it was from the blinding light or the words he said to me. He didn’t touch me again as he stood and disappeared from my line of sight, towards the light.

Footsteps. 

They poured out of the doors, lieutenants and stopping to draw their Zanpakutō and scan the area as if he wasn’t about to turn himself in. 

Please… 

“There he is!”

Don’t take him from me… 

My mind went blind with emotions that seared at my soul. It hurt so much that I could feel Zangetsu’s discomfort from the sensation. Fear, anxiety, confusion, disgust, rage. It could have been the Hollow’s doing that caused me to stand, it could have been of my own accord; nobody would know as all feeling went numb and something else took over. It was unsure which soul took Zangetsu from my back, unraveled the Zanpakutō from the white ribbons, or who brought it out in front of me, both hands grasping the handle. They didn’t see me, and I wasn’t sure if they even caught my spiritual pressure as they focused on him. Nothing but the desperate thought of defending him plagued my mind and possessed my body. You won’t take him from me, he’s—!

“ _Bankai_.”


	2. Ghost in the Tail Light

I had almost walked home with Orihime that day. I wanted to ask her, but she’d just sent me a sad half-smile and went on her way with Tatsuki. I was left there in the streetlight with an umbrella and this weird, empty feeling in my chest. I don’t know why I let it affect me so damn much.

We had been getting so close the past year of hanging out together with our other friends over the summer and, well, every other chance we got. It didn’t take a genius to know where things would have ended up if we had stayed together like that, she and I. Chad, Rukia, hell even _Uryuu_ wouldn’t leave me alone about asking her out. And then there was Keigo, who protested about it constantly. I could tell Orihime was itching to ask me the same thing, but the problem is, I don’t think either of us could bring ourselves to do it.

I’d known Orihime for a long time. We were never really “close” until the whole Soul Society shebang. Of course I liked her; she was my friend, after all. I just wasn’t sure if I liked her like _that_. 

All of us got in some big trouble about two weeks before. Word got out there was a party being held by the college guys and us high schoolers got pushed into it because of, well, peer pressure, specifically by Keigo. As soon as he’d heard about it he forced us into going. Mizuiro was fortunate enough to bullshit his way out of it, saying he had some “important things to take care of”. Now me, being a delinquent freshman year who suddenly became friends with some of the best people I’ve ever met, I’ve become pretty popular around the school; it was another one of those things Keigo would complain about constantly. So basically, I couldn’t get out of going. 

Anyway, me and Orihime were at this big house party that was being held two weekends before the start of summer break, as you’d expect. We were the only two out of our group that managed to avoid having alcohol shoved down our underage throats, but the other three disappeared somewhere in the house and we escaped to the back porch together. It rained pretty lightly, and luckily we were shielded by a roof over the porch, but it still had to be the most awkward night of my life when we sat there, neither of us wanting to speak after being tossed around a hot living room full of drunk teenagers and my eardrums were still ringing from all the noise. I gave her my hoodie and she uttered a small ‘thanks’, clutching it on her lap but not putting it on. She was still shy around me, keeping a considerable amount of distance between us. We sat like that, my eyes watching the moon behind dark grey clouds and distantly listening to the rain and the bass inside pounding away, but all I could think of was saying _something_ to her. Here I was, alone with the first girl I actually liked, who possibly even liked me back, and I couldn’t bring myself to say it. I leaned back on my palms on the dry wooden deck and took a deep breath.

I finally decided to break the not-so-silent silence with a yawn, causing her to jump slightly and I caught a glimpse of her eyes looking at me curiously. If we were any closer I could’ve pulled that cheesy move you see in movies all the time, where the guy fakes a yawn to put his arm around her. Well, even if we were I probably wouldn’t do that. 

“Kinda sucks, y’know.” She finally turned her head to look at me; I could see from out of my peripherals Orihime’s face as she moved a lock of red hair behind her ear. “School’s starting back up soon and here we are.”

“Ah… what’s wrong with here?” Her voice was so quiet under the music from inside, but I could hear her perfectly clear. 

I tore my gaze from the big ball in the sky to face her with a smile tugging at my lips. “We could’ve been at Chad’s place watching a movie, or something. If it weren’t for those guys being in _there_ still, I’d say let’s get out of here.” I pointed a thumb at the glass door behind us. 

“But we were invited here, Ichigo. It’s my first party I’ve ever been to, a-and I’m…” her voice shook like she was holding something back, and my eyes widened. Shit, did I say something wrong? Orihime leaned forward to hug the sweatshirt closer and she hunched over. I scooted closer to her and put a hand on her back, concern taking over. She laughed mirthlessly. “I’m having fun…” Her body was shaking under my hand and her voice trailed off. What the—?

I clutched her and gently tried to get her to look at me. “Orihime? What’s wrong?” 

She was quiet with her head buried in her arms for a bit, with me awkwardly rubbing her back and half-hugging her. This lasted for a few seconds before she uttered a quick apology and shakily sat up. “Ichigo, c-can I ask you something?” she whispered, and I saw that she was blushing all over. That wasn’t unusual for Orihime, but why now? She looked at me desperately, and I haven’t felt that anxious in so long; the way she looked at me that night made my chest clench in a way I didn’t know it could, and it felt like Orihime needed something I couldn’t give, like an answer I couldn’t say. I swallowed past the growing lump in my throat and nodded. “Do you think we’ll still be friends after we graduate? Just us, I-I mean.” She was having trouble keeping eye contact. 

Oh. So that’s what was on her mind. 

The word _friends_ struck something in me, but I figured it was best to ignore with a smile that I hoped seemed casual. “Didn’t I say we’ll always be friends? Even when we’ve all had kids and moved away, and stuff like that. Graduation won’t change anything between us.” I moved my hand up to wrap an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a loose hug, causing her to squeak in surprise. She smiled, I could tell, and lightly held my hand on her. 

“Ichigo.” She seemed calmer and more comfortable now, but her voice still held that nervous tremor that set me on edge. “I… I really like you. Like, _like_ like.”

The music from inside pounded in my ears. All I could hear was the bass, and screams from college kids and underaged high school students laced in. There were birds outside, but it wasn’t like I could hear them. Crickets probably chirped under the weight of the blasting noise coming from a glass door just behind me. Orihime’s voice was becoming muffled under the noise.

“Do you like me too?”

If I spoke right then, I wouldn’t even be able to hear my own voice. So I didn’t respond. I didn’t want to hold her anymore, but I didn’t want to let go. She was completely still in my arm and stayed silent. An aeon passed.

Screams came from inside the house, and not the kind of screams you want to hear at a party. A guy I didn’t recognize threw open the sliding glass door and looked at us, causing both of us to jump, and I quickly scooted away from Orihime so not to raise suspicion. “Hey! Sorry, but you gotta get out of here! My mom and dad are coming home and my old bitch neighbor called the cops. So, uhh… Get out!”

Everything else that happened went by in one big blur that churned my stomach every time I thought about it. Thank God Chad and Uryuu had enough sense not to drink, considering they’re underage and all, but Rukia clearly had a pink tinge along the tops of her cheeks. I dragged them all back along with me; even took the time to drop them off at their respective houses. 

Then it was me, Rukia, and Orihime walking together. It was painfully silent, save for Rukia’s occasional drunken utterings and giggles. My sweatshirt had been returned to me earlier and I had it slung it over my shoulder as we walked. 

When we finally got to Orihime’s house, I was about to hug her goodbye as a half-assed apology for not responding, even though I still couldn’t provide an answer for her, but she shuffled away quickly and damn near _slammed_ the door behind her. I stood there, completely dumbfounded. It was until Rukia tugged at my shirt that I finally began to walk to my house.

“Ichi…” came a slurred groan behind me.

I turned back to look at Rukia, whose gaze was shifting all over the place as she stumbled. “What’s up?”

She turned to look at me and had this look on her face like I’d done something despicable. Eyebrows pointed down, cheeks puffed up and taking big steps that made her stomp; oh yes, she was drunk but she was totally pissed about something. Typical of her. Rukia looked like an angry kitten that’s just had its favorite toy taken away and I had to hold back a snicker at the sight. 

“I shaw you two out on the porch earlier. She looked upset like you did shomething… Wait, no, don’t tell me.” She was silent for a moment and comically tapped her chin in thought before her eyes lit up in recognition. “I got it! You groped her didn’ you!!” Oh boy, now she was yelling. I stopped and frantically waved my hand in front of her to get her to shut up, or else the neighbors were gonna call the cops. 

She ignored my gestures and flailed around, acting like she had her Zanpakutou on hand and was about to eradicate me. “You bastard! You stupid, perverted bastard idiot! Why, I oughtta—!”

“Damn it Rukia, just shut the hell up already!” I yelled. I didn’t have a choice, or else she’d have kept going. She finally stopped and crossed her arms, glazed eyes piercing through my soul and waiting for an explanation. “Jeez… Always accusing me of things you know damn well I wouldn’t do.” Rukia glared at that. “I didn’t touch Orihime. At least, not _that_ way. Look, nothing happened between us. We just talked out there and she must’ve gotten tired or something.” She didn’t look satisfied with my answer at all. Even through the drunken haze she held a melancholic look of disappointment.

Rukia walked in front of me and uttered a quick ‘whatever’.

Kon must have been able to sense the weird tension between us when we got back because he glared his little black button eyes at me. “Damn it Ichigo! Why you gotta go an’ make her upset all the time!”

“I didn’t _do_ anything, you damn pest. And don’t bother Rukia right now—she’s drunk.”

Rukia threw a book at my head, missed, then quickly retreated into the closet before I could retaliate. 

Everyone’s so moody lately; this is why you shouldn’t drink underage, even if you’re a hundred-and-something year old Shinigami. 

Kon crawled to sit next to me as I lay down on my bed, not even bothering to take off my clothes as I just felt too exhausted to do anything at that point. I stretched my arms over my eyes and sighed deeply. “What’s wrong with you two anyway?” I tried to ignore the nuisance and get some sleep.

“Just don’t worry about it, we’re fine.”

Then it was just like that time with Orihime, two weeks before now, two weeks after the party at that kid’s house, that it rained exactly the same. It felt as if our friendship had been ruined just because I didn’t say yes or no; that I’d single handedly broken whatever relationship we had. Regardless of the weeks it’d been since it happened, and despite the never ending thoughts of ‘nothing could make it worse’ that sifted through my mind, life always finds a way. It’s a long story, believe me, one that cost me a lifetime.

My life is something you could say _was_ pretty normal. When I say that I was cursed the day I was born, believe me. At least, you will when I’m done telling this. I’m sure, and that’s why everything I’ve ever been through has gone to complete shit. That summer was just a series of fucked up events tied up with one strange incident that changed everything I ever knew, and I’d be lying if I said I’d turned out okay in the end.

I hated remembering how we met, me and the guy that ruined my life. It was one weird coincidence—or at least, I liked to believe it was—after the next and what I wouldn’t give to take it all back, to take my _life_ back.

It was a humid, rainy day, two weeks ago. On the last day of school I walked home with my bag slung over my shoulder and a hand stuffed in my pocket. Sticky rain drenched me all over and weighed me down, as if the school was struggling to hold me back still. My spiky, bright orange hair to my head and clung to my uniform uncomfortably. Basically, it wasn’t good weather to walk home in on the last day of school. I was still grateful for it being over, though. I would’ve walked home with my friends, don’t get me wrong, but they either had to stay at school a while longer or just didn’t live near me. All day people were talking about what they were gonna do over break and bugging me about hanging out during vacation, but I just wanted to get through the day and make it home. Unfortunately, that just wasn’t going to happen.

As I walked without paying any mind to the world around me, my body soon began to feel that not-so-unfamiliar sensation. Not the weight of the rain, despite how much I wished it had been; it was spiritual pressure, and not one I knew. Then came the feeling of being watched. I glanced around, slowly at first, then quickened my walk. The rain seemed to pour harder and the drops felt fatter as they hit me dead-on. I wasn’t scared or anything, just wanted to avoid a fight. I stopped dead in my tracks. It was fluctuating, like whoever it was was trying to taunt me. I sneered in annoyance.

"Damn it… Why can’t you just leave me alone?!" I quickly turned around, blindly looking around, but there was nothing. An empty street, garbage cans, bushes, and houses, but that didn’t fool me. Nobody around school was stupid enough to pick a fight with me, especially those guys who made the mistake of knocking over the jar of flowers a while back, so it had to be someone who wasn’t from around here, like someone from the Soul Society. I stood my ground. "If you’re gonna follow me, at least show yourself. I don’t have time for games." First came a rustle from a bush, then they all slowly showed themselves, looking at each other to silently figure out what to do. They just looked like a bunch of typical delinquents from school, but as I looked them over, I couldn’t recognize a single one. 

What stood out to me was how they looked. Sure, they were ugly, but they just seemed… not exactly human. Aside from the spiritual pressure, their bodies were sort of crooked looking, and their faces struck me as more animal-like than anything. Pointed noses, beady eyes, sharp grins; if it weren’t for the human clothing, they wouldn’t have looked human at all. They still had flesh and hair—as messy as it was; even in the rain I could still tell they weren’t relatively _clean_. 

I set my bag down and stood straight, both hands shoved in my pocket in an attempt to seem assertive, despite being caught off guard. They laughed at me for even daring to stand up to them, but it sounded much more like squeals from a bunch of rats. "Uh-ohh, better watch out! Kurosaki’s gonna do somethin’!" they cooed. I rolled my eyes, but not before thinking and wondering to myself just who the hell they were and why they knew who I was. As they all began to move out of the bushes and from behind trash cans and benches, to which I realized there were way more than I thought, they waved their skinny fingers at me and made faces to taunt me.

A feeling of apprehension shot through me, but that wasn’t enough to stop me from standing my ground. One of the most important things to remember in a situation like this is to stand your ground, or _you’ll_ be the one who ends up beaten and bloody in a hospital. I looked around and tried to keep my cool as they began to surround me; I looked for their leader. 

Every group of freaks who went out of their way to fight someone like me had to have some kind of leader, or they’d have been beaten down right from the start. Considering the spiritual pressure, they must have known that I wasn’t one to be messed with, and I could tell from the shifting glances of these guys that they didn’t know exactly what they were doing. They were loud as hell, too. For a second I was concerned they’d get the cops called on them just for making so much damn noise.

I didn’t want to fight these idiots, and I especially didn’t want to go into my spirit form to deal with them. I looked around as I heard more coming from behind me, and I realized too late that there were way more than I thought. They were beginning to surround me from every angle. 

"Not so high ‘n mighty now, eh Kurosaki?" came a deep, raspy voice I’d never heard before from behind me. I whipped around to see who it belonged to, and found a guy I definitely didn’t recognize. It was hard to see in the steam and rain; he looked like some stereotypical high school ‘bad boy’. Taller than the rest of them, with squared shoulders and a look that he thought he could take me down with the snap of his fingers. He was definitely the leader. I wracked my brain for any indication of familiarity; I’ve definitely never seen this guy before. He didn’t have on a school uniform, not like I expected him to have one on. Instead he had on some casual-looking clothes, but they were torn up around the knees and sleeves. He would have stood out like a sore thumb at my high school, with the shitty blonde-dyed hair that I sword I could see washing out in the rain, so I doubt I’d forget someone who looked the way he did.

Whether I knew the guy or not, I didn’t care. 

I shot him a glare. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, or how you even know my name, but it doesn’t matter. I got nothing to do with you morons,” I shot back at him. He was much taller than me, I realized, as he strode up to me. The spiritual pressure was definitely coming from him. I could feel it shift with every movement. 

He grinned, deep green eyes that would have seemed black in the rain if not for the streetlights crinkled. “Of course you don’t, dumbass. Do I look like someone who goes to that little school of yours?” He swept his wet mop of hair back, away from his eyes. The rest of them stood back and watched, waiting for either of us to make a move.

I was so distracted by him I didn’t notice the hulking mass of a teenager creep up behind me, quickly securing both arms behind my back and locking them in place. “Wh—“ I kicked out and twisted my arms against the vice-like hold on them, to no avail. “Hey! Lemme go!” I could have broken out of the hold if it were a normal human, but this definitely wasn’t the case. He made no movements as I thrashed against him. I finally stopped after moments of meaningless struggling and looked towards the ground. 

I heard a breathy laugh come from the guy in front of me. “You’re pretty popular, you know. I hear all about this _’Kurosaki’_ all over town, about how strong he is and the fact he’s never been defeated in a fight, and here you are, already giving up just like that.” The longer he spoke, the more rapidly my blood began to boil. I grit my teeth and thrashed. He grabbed my hair and yanked my head back without warning, forcing me to look at him. He grinned, showing off two snakebite piercings on his lower lip.

My lip curled in frustration into a snarl. “Like hell I’ve given up. I just don’t have the time to waste on a bunch of scumbags like yo—!”

The air was forced out of my lungs by a knee that landed itself clean in my ribs. I couldn’t breathe for a second, then out came coughs and sputters and the faint taste of something like iron in the back of my throat.

“I’ll take that as a _no_ , then.” His calm voice pissed me off so much I didn’t think I could take it anymore. I dug blunt fingernails into the palms of my hands and shook. “I’m Akinari Ueno, as if you needed to know, but that doesn’t matter right now.”

Nothing. His name didn’t ring any bells, but it somehow felt like it was a name I should have known. I didn’t have the time to wonder why he knew my name and especially why he thought he could at me the way he was; my mind was too busy thinking about getting out of this arm trap and beating the crap out of these losers.

I looked around more, almost desperately, eyeing them all. There was something weird going on with their faces; they no longer had that bloodthirsty look in all their eyes. No, their eyes looked completely blank and rolling upwards. My heart quickened its pace and my blood ran cold as I noticed their eyes were rolled back. 

“What the…”

Akinari’s grip tightened and he grabbed my hair by the roots, making me hiss through clenched teeth. “Don’t fret over them—I’m the one you should be worrying about.” His speech was getting stranger the longer he talked, I noticed. The words did not sound like the ones your typical teenager would use when he’s talking to someone his own age, and that alone instantly raised my suspicion way higher. He definitely wasn’t human, I knew that, but just how _old_ was he? I must have been staring, lost in my own musings, because he suddenly yanked my head again and growled: “You even listening, Kurosaki?!”

He kept saying my name like it was something he’d been wanting to say his whole life. Rain soaked the both of us and made it difficult to keep my eyes open to glare at him, but he didn’t seem to be having any issues with that as he stared me down like an animal.

Then my vision went black.

The sound of his fist slamming into my jaw hurt more than anything. I heard the deep crunch before I even felt it. He landed a knee into my stomach and released his death grip on my hair, sending me to fall down on the wet concrete. I coughed again, and was about to yell in protest, but a thick stream of blood pooled in my mouth and spilled out over the pavement and dribbled over my chin. It hurt to even grit my teeth. Just what kind of power did he have…?

Without warning, a sudden wave of punches and kicks was thrown at me, beating every part of me he could reach. He cackled as his foot connected with my midsection repeatedly, each blow catching the air in my lungs and rendering them useless. I clenched my jaw hard. Bracing myself was becoming impossible. Countless bruises began to form all over me. Hot rain poured down and mixed with the blood now covering my uniform. I bit my lip to stop any noise from coming out. He suddenly and grabbed my chin and pulled me up, the guy behind me that held me in place before stepping back without a word.

“Hmmhm…” His vile cigarette-stained breath filled the air around me as he chuckled deeply. “Wouldn’t do any good to kill you here, now would it? At least I had some fun with ya, first.”

All I could think at that moment was how I wanted to fight back, make him suffer. The feeling of wanting to harm someone wasn’t like any I’d experienced before; not even any of the fights I had in the Soul Society could compare. In the back of my mind I felt shocked at myself—was he doing this? Did he have some weird trick up his sleeve that would blind me with bloodlust? I tried to force those thoughts down and focus on retaliation, for now. I needed to escape before he could kill me. Akinari had been so wrapped up in looking over the wounds he’d inflicting that he didn’t notice me planning an assault. I was lucky enough to catch him off guard; I coughed as hard a I possibly could, splattering thick streaks of blood all over his face and eyes.

" _Argh!_ ” He pulled off to wipe it away, cursing under his breath while his henchmen all made a run for it to restrain me. "Why you… You little shit! I’ll fuckin’ kill you!”

I grinned in triumph despite myself, but that was short-lived as he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards a brick wall. I didn’t have time to react before he slammed me face-first in the wall. I felt like I was suffocating as he pushed his weight on me and shoved me against the wet brick. Akinari leaned in close to my ear, his breath hot against me and making my body quake in vexation.

“Bastard! What in the hell do you even want from me?! Just lemme go!” He scoffed and in one swift movement landed a kick on the back of my knee, causing my leg to buck forwards and my head to be hit by the wall as I lost balance. My ears picked up the sound of a pocket knife being flicked open, and the cold feeling of a blade was on my throat within seconds. It was somehow way different than being threatened by a sword. I ceased all movement, a bead of sweat trailing down my back.

Akinari pushed the jagged edge against my skin without mercy. I thrashed and tried to get away, both arms held in place, but the only thing really stopping me was the blade piercing me ever so slowly. 

There was no way I would fight this guy. I don’t care what he was; I needed to know what he wanted with me before I kicked his teeth in. There wasn’t anything I could do with my face pushed into a wall except one thing. My legs weren’t exactly able to support me as much as I wished they would from being kicked in multiple times, but with nothing else to stop me, I kicked him blindly. He made a surprised noise behind me, as if not expecting me to actually put up a fight. I ducked under his arms and stepped away.

Everyone looked dazed for a second when they realized I’d broken free, then all hell broke loose. Everything happened so fast you would have thought it was a dream; two punches just weren’t enough to stop him as he grabbed my fists, flashing a smug grin, only to have it smeared off when I landed a roundhouse kick in the face. 

Then it was my chance to run. 

I didn’t think of anything else as I ran with all the strength I could muster. I heard screams and yells of anger behind me, then fast-approaching footsteps. I ran out of the part of town I knew, subconsciously noticing the sun quickly going down over the horizon. I ran through Karakura town, jumping over fences and benches and knocking over at least a couple of trash cans, twisting and turning into every alleyway I spotted, until I came to a place where I found myself completely lost.

I doubled over and panted, lungs aching and felt as if they were bleeding. I hadn’t even noticed until then that the rain had stopped, leaving everything wet and glistening bright whites and cerulean. It was almost pitch-black out.

A dark, wide alleyway was where I found myself in. I leaned against the wall and held a hand to my busted lip. It wasn’t anything as bad as the wounds I had received in the Soul Society, but they still stung like hell. I had no idea if they were still chasing me—if Akinari even knew where I was or if he’d given up altogether. What the hell did he even want with me, this guy who acted like he’s had a problem with me since I could breathe?

“You can run, I’ll give you that. Kurosaki.” My breath caught in my throat. I snapped around to find the source of the voice, and there he was. He stood in the center of the alley, the rising moon behind him and that shitty blonde hair stuck to his face. Akinari grinned, snakebites bared. I raised my head and didn’t bother to run away again; as I looked around I didn’t see any of his boys, so it must have been safe to assume I could fight him now. “Almost lost ya there.”

“No support team? Or did those idiots get lost on the way?” I had the balls to chide. 

His expression shifted to more condescending as he slowly strided towards me, hands stuffed in pockets. He was taller than me, I noticed, now that he was up close. “I didn’t need those tools to deal with you. In fact,“ he slammed a hand next to my head on the brick wall. “I’d rather face you on my own. More fun that way, y’know?”

The feeling I’d had since earlier never once subsided, and I began to realize it wasn’t just the spiritual pressure; it was as if there was something in the air, filling my lungs and stopping me from breathing. My vision was beginning to go blurry.

“I don’t want to fight you, but I—“ I couldn’t speak. A hand met my throat, fingers with cold metal rings clenched around it and cutting off all breath. A disgusting sensation flew through me as my blood was suddenly filled with an intense sense of… dread? All I could manage was a glare. His washed green eyes crinkled as he snickered. Shit, when did he get so close? It was as if I blacked out from the atmosphere and over exertion and he took the opportunity. 

Without warning, and without any fluctuations in that overwhelming spiritual pressure, he clamped the hand down completely and a wave of pain flew through me. “Agh?!” I couldn’t breathe at all, never mind speak.

All I saw was his face in front of mine, and the bright outline of his form. Orange that changed to a blinding neon yellow. It grew bigger, that light. A light…

A roar pierced the air of the alleyway and soared past us, then a rush flew through me that pushed me away from the wall and I fell with a yell to the wet concrete, and Akinari was gone. My vision was filled with nothing but a sheet of cold white and then I saw the night sky again. I lay there completely in shock for what I could only describe as being a century then looked around for whatever caused something like that. A car sat at the end of the alleyway. Tail lights flickered off and then the night was silent save for the sound of crickets and dripping water. 

“Akinari? Wha…” Empty. Nobody there except for me, and that car. I sprung up from the ground and ignored the wetness that stuck to me all over and ran to it. “Hey!” I slapped the roof and then leaned down to look through the dark tinted window of the passenger seat. 

“What the hell?!” 

There was nobody in the car, and the driver seat door was open! I braced myself and looked around frantically. Bastard ran away just like that?! That must’ve been one of Akinari’s idiots trying to scare me away; grabbed him and ran when they realized who I was, probably. 

I think I ran across town all night looking for any sign of Akinari or his boys, but especially whoever was in that car. I definitely lost my school bag at some point, but I didn’t care. Finally, I gave up when some old lady threatened me for being out so late at night. I tried to sneak in my room, avoiding the wrath of my dad for being out past curfew, but of course a certain someone heard me. 

“You want to explain to me why you’re so late to coming home from school, Ichigo?” 

Rukia. Like she was my mother or something. I sighed through gritted teeth and slumped into bed, not bothering to face her. She stood in my room, arms crossed and foot tapping on the floor like she always did when I was in deep shit. 

“It’s none of your damn business, Rukia. I’ll tell you in the morning.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is planned to be a VERY long fic with a super slow build. Bear with me and I promise it will get finished eventually.


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